Sirius arrived with Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall soon after as well as Mad Eye. Remy was surprised the head of the auror department would show up for this but he was happy for he knew the man would see reason.
Moody stepped forward. "Just what is this that you are accusing these two teens of?"
The shop keeper pointed at the till. "I am missing a substantial amount of money and this young man was found with it."
Moody turned to Fred. "Do you have any explanation for that kind of money Fred?"
Fred nodded. "My brother and I have been working on a series of joke candies and have sold them to students, and even to Zonkos. The money came from it."
Remy added. "They showed me the purse this morning as they were planning on using the money to purchase some nice Christmas gifts for their family."
Moody turned to the shop owner. "I assume you have counted your money. How much was missing from the till?"
The man listed off how much was taken as Sirius counted what was in the purse. "It seems there is quite a bit more money in here then you claim was taken."
The man shook his head. "Then the boys must have stolen more money from other stores. No Weasley would have that kind of money."
Moody turned to three aurors who came in. "Did any of the other store owners have anything to report?"
They all shook their heads. One spoke. "The owner of Zonko's confirms paying Frederick Weasley a significant sum of money for joke candy."
Another added. "And many of the students who we spoke to in the streets said they too had purchased from the twins."
Remy didn't have to ask how they had known to ask about the candy as Sirius winked at him. "It seems that you have pointed the finger at the wrong kids."
The man was shaking. "They were the closest to the till. I saw them there. If it wasn't them then they were being decoys. I want the others searched."
Sirius spoke up. "You can not demand that students be searched for money, when you have no proof any of them had done anything wrong."
Suddenly Neville came in. "Professor Dumbledore, there is something you need to know."
They all turned to Neville and Albus smiled. "What can we do for you Mr Longbottom?"
"The kids in the street were talking about a floating head. You could only see the head, well part of it, none of the body, like an invisibility cloak."
Albus as well as Moody and Sirius turned to Remy who shook his head. He had not seen his cloak since the day before and as far as he knew it was safely tucked away up in his room.
"I will have someone investigate the missing money but you will not go around accusing innocent students." Sirius said.
The shop keeper was still livid. "Those teens are always getting into trouble. I know they were just decoys. Probably some kind of cover for their little friend."
Albus turned to look at the teachers with them. "I think this should bring an end to the Hogsmeade trip for the day. Get all of the students back up to the school."
As the others cleared Remy hugged his godfather. "Thank you for helping them. I have no idea how they'd have thought Draco would be involved in this."
Moody looked at them. "Unfortunately it doesn't seem like this is over though. Remy I'm going to need you to take me to your cloak."
Remy smiled and shrugged. "Of course Mr Moody. It is in my dorm room in Gryffindor. I'll take you to see it right away."
Moody put an arm around Remy's shoulder and led him up to the castle. He knew that Remy would not have done anything wrong but they needed to clear up any doubts of course.
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Remus and Severus burst into the headmaster's office and saw their son sitting in a chair crying. When Remy saw his dads he threw himself into his daddy's arms and Severus turned to the headmaster.
"Albus, you can not seriously think my son has anything to do with this." Severus said coolly.
Albus motioned for them to sit down. "Of course not. Unfortunately until we get to the bottom of this, Moody has had to take Remy into custody."
Remus held his son. "When was the last time you saw your cloak Remy?"
Remy sobbed. "Yesterday, it was in the bottom of my trunk. I didn't take it out of my dorm for a few days. I swear."
Sirius entered. "It seems that the head that was seen with the invisibility cloak had black hair, but no face seen. Unfortunately the details do match Remy."
Remy looked up. "I was with Susan when the money was taken. The owner of the book store, I talked to him. He'd remember I was there for an hour before."
Moody confirmed it when he walked in. "That he did. He said that the bright young man there was talking his ear off about ancient runes, when this happened."
Severus put an arm around his son. "Well it seems our son's brains save him again. Obviously someone got their hands on our son's cloak and use it to set up his friends."
Albus agreed. "We will not let word spread as best as we can stop it, and make sure we find who has his cloak. I'd like to find out how they got into Gryffindor."
Moody turned to Remy. "I hope you know I was only doing my job. I have known you since you were a baby and knew you'd never do this."
Remy smiled up at him and surprised everyone including Moody when he hugged him. "Of course. You're the best auror, you have to do your job."
Moody returned the hug and smiled at Remy's dads. "I know I have said this more then once but you have raised quite the young man here. Very honest."
Severus took his son. "We have and how he stood up for his friends today just proves that for us. We're very proud of you Remy."
Remus turned to the others. "If we are done here, I think Remy would probably like to see his friends and stop feel like he is under arrest."
Albus smiled and nodded. "Of course, and Remy I add to Alastor's apologies about this. We just needed to make sure everything was handled right."
Remy nodded and let his dads walk him from the room but his Uncle Sirius and Moody stayed in the office when they were gone and Moody had come up with an idea of what to do.
"I have a feeling that the culprit isn't about to not use the cloak again. It would be too tempting." Moody said.
Albus had to agree. "Who ever went to as much trouble to get into Gryffindor and steal the cloak from Remy, will want to make good with it."
Sirius was the first to mention it though. "How do we know it wasn't a lion? I hate accusing the house but how would someone else have gotten into the tower?"
Moody had to agree. "There is a chance though I'd think his own house less likely to steal from him. We'll keep our eye on them all."
Albus turned to Moody. "You are able to see through the cloaks. Is there any way we could convince you to remain here at school until the person is found?"
Sirius smiled. "We've already discussed. It seems I have been recalled to active auror duty for an important case that needs their top field agent, until at least January."
"And since I have not been active in the field in years, I have agreed to teach his class for the last few weeks before Christmas." Moody concluded.
Albus' eyes twinkled. "Usually I do not like when the ministry tries to interfere in my school but if duty calls Sirius away I appreciate a replacement for him."
Sirius turned to leave. "I'd like to tell Remy if you have an answer about the extra studies for him next term. It will make me leaving a bit easier on him."
Albus smiled. "His teachers have all agreed to give him fourth year level material in his normal class periods, so he won't have to worry about interfering with his advanced potions, DADA or quidditch, or homework of course."
Sirius smiled. "That will definitely cheer him up though I know he will be disappointed to see me go."
Moody smirked. "He'll be happy to have me here and once we catch who tried to set him and his friends up, he'll be even happier."
Sirius knew he made sense. He wished he could tell Remy the truth especially when he found his godson saying goodbyes to his dads, down at the front entrance. Remy looked close to tears when Sirius said he had to leave, and they were only calmed slightly by assurances he'd be back to teach in January and be at Christmas, and that Moody would be here as well. The studies of course made him light up.
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Two weeks later Remy was with his quidditch team out on the pitch practicing. He was still flying a loaner broom though he had opted for Draco's Cleansweep, not as quick as his Nimbus but at least better then the comets and shooting stars. It had been a birthday present last summer for Draco and he was happy to lend it.
His friends were in the stands watching when Hermione noticed something odd. "Look down there. Do you notice something about the quidditch box?"
Draco looked at the box which held the balls usually. "The lid is open. But it was closed before. There are only two balls left in there."
Realizing what was happening Blaise shouted. "Watch out you guys, someone is letting loose the bludgers."
Fred and George didn't have their bats in the air as they had not been practicing with live bludgers that day. "Get down." Fred shouted at Remy.
Remy ducked just in time to miss a bludger that flew right at him. As the team was trying to avoid being injured, and to wrestle the balls, there was another shout from down below and Hermione pointed again.
"Look its Professor Moody. I think he has caught someone." Hermione called.
Everyone looked and sure enough Moody had a grip on something no one could see. "Now it's time to see who the real culprit is." Moody growled.
author's note: to answer a question about Peter and Remy, remember to the world Harry James Potter died October 31st 1981 during the attack on Godric's Hollow. It was Remus' bond with his godson that found the child at the orphanag (1st chapter) when everyone including Albus thought him dead. The court case was sealed for child protection and it was mentioned after that Remy's friends for his protection, don't know the whole truth about the trial. Peter may learn, you'll have to wait.
